When we first started visiting Yaai we didn’t yet know Nong. Our main focus was on taking care of Yaai and her two grown kids who lived with her. An elderly neighbor would occassionally come over to see what was going on when we were there, but she didn’t...
We walk into the yard of a village home, a patchwork of tin, wood, and bamboo. “Dam” (pronounced dAHm), a member of a small village in Buengkan Province, rises from her bench to greet us. She is a single grandmother raising her three grandchildren. Dam...
The day we arrived at the house, her niece greeted us in the yard. She lives with her son, who was away visiting the doctor. He has cancer and is often away working or receiving cancer treatments. Bun Mee was feeling unwell that day but she would be glad to see us. At...
Nang Wanni is a 74 years old mother to three grown children. She also acts as secondary caregiver to her two grandchildren. Nang Wanni’s husband passed away some time ago, and all but one of her children has moved away. Her son lives nearby and has two...
“Pa Ruay” lives in a small village in the Kok Khong district, sometimes alone and sometimes with her son who struggles with alcohol. Her husband died about 20 years ago. While her home is small and simple it provides shelter from the sun, winds, and rain....
Elders in rural vllages live in conditions that you would not commonly see in western cultures. Not to say one is right and one is wrong, but they are both indeed vastly different from each other. When I close my eyes and think of my grandma, I envision her in her...
